Floyd flirts with no-hitter as White Sox roll

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Gavin Floyd ended the Chicago White Sox's
six-game losing streak in a big way Tuesday, coming within two
outs of the season's first no-hitter in a 7-1 victory over the
Minnesota Twins at U.S. Cellular Field.

The 25-year-old righthander, who threw 62 of his 105 pitches for
strikes, lost the no-hitter when Joe Mauer hit a 1-0 pitch into
left-center field for a double as center fielder Nick Swisher
made a diving attempt for the ball.

"When you're in that situation, you just keep attacking and
anything can happen," Floyd said. "When it leaves your hand,
you hope it's an out."

Manager Ozzie Guillen immediately pulled Floyd, who held the
Detroit Tigers hitless for 7 1/3 innings on April 12 before the
no-hit bid was broken up, following Mauer's double.

"Gavin has got confidence now," Guillen said. "It seems like
nothing bothers him. It was nice to see, especially with the
team struggling the way we have."

Floyd (3-1) struck out four, walked three and retired 16
straight before allowing the double. He left to a standing
ovation.

"I made a turn during the middle of the game and had a good
rhythm and tempo and just kept attacking and started throwing
more strikes," Floyd said. "I tried to keep it the same
throughout every inning."

In his sixth start of the season, Floyd was attempting to throw
baseball's first no-hitter since rookie Clay Buchholz of Boston
shut down the Baltimore Orioles on September 1.

"I've seen him since the minor leagues," Mauer said. "He's been
getting better and better. I was just trying to get on base
and get a hit. I got a pitch that was up a little bit and tried
to drive it into the gap."

Floyd's bid came more than a year after Mark Buehrle threw the
16th no-hitter in White Sox history on April 18, 2007.

Had Floyd completed the amazing feat, it would have been just
the sixth time in major league history that a run was allowed in
a no-hitter.

Floyd threw a no-hitter in the minors on July 24, 2002 against
Lexington of the South Atlantic League but lost a 1-0 decision
as a result of an unearned run.

Floyd was just happy with a victory on Tuesday. He has pitched
two no-hitters - one in the minor leagues and one in high school
- and left after eight innings without giving up a hit in
another minor league game.

"My team lost in all three of them," Floyd said.

Left fielder Carlos Quentin's error on a fourth-inning fly ball
hit by Justin Morneau was the closest Minnesota came to a hit
until Mauer's double. Quentin made a long run toward the line
for the fly but did not lunge or dive and clearly had the ball
in his glove before dropping it.

That error allowed Mauer to score on a sacrifice fly by Jason
Kubel two batters later.

Bobby Jenks retired both batters he faced to pick up his seventh
save for Chicago, which produced the timely hits that were
absent during its 0-6 road trip to Minnesota and Toronto that
ended Monday.

Chicago backed Floyd with 11 hits, including Jermaine Dye's
fourth home run of the year.

Dye hit a two-out RBI single to center in the first inning to
plate Orlando Cabrera, and Quentin scored Chicago's second run
after a throwing error by center fielder Carlos Gomez.

The Twins pulled within 2-1 on Kubel's sacrifice fly, but the
White Sox came back with a two-out RBI single by Juan Uribe, who
entered the game batting .181.

Dye extended the lead to 4-1 with a sixth-inning leadoff homer
to right off Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn (2-2), who yielded
four runs - three earned - and six hits in six innings.

Quentin's single up the middle off reliever Jesse Crain scored
Cabrera and Uribe in the seventh, and Joe Crede delivered an RBI
double to left in the eighth against Bobby Korecky.

"We did today what we did early in the year," Guillen said. "We
made those guys pitch. We got hits with two outs. Our problem
had been that we were swinging at everything they throw at us."

26roots

mark wow, i'm just seeing this game. i think that unearned run confused the crap out of RUWTbot... :)

ALAT CHI WHITE SOX - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY JERMAINE DYE (4) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 6TH OFF NICK BLACKBURN.CURRENT SCORE: MINNESOTA 1, CHI WHITE SOX 4DUE UP FOR CHI WHITE SOX: A PIERZYNSKI (.277, 1-FOR-2)